Happy Housewarming

A few weeks ago (um...a month ago!) our families threw us a housewarming party. We had lots of fun sharing our home with friends and neighbors. It's an awful excuse, but moving into our home and renovating kept us busy for a while so it was great seeing people we hadn't seen in a while. 

I'm obsessed with the invitation from AmySimpleDesgins! Seriously though burlap background and aqua? They know me so well :)

I'd say I didn't mean to match the party color scheme, but let's be honest they're my favorite colors for a reason.

Remember how I was lusting after this wreath? Well, I have the greatest sister ever and she made me one! I most definitely did a happy dance/jumped up and down when she gave it to me.

 Hi, my name is Taylor Rae and I have an obsession with aqua and coral. 

Drink Station. FYI Costco margaritas are the jam!

Sis does it again and made the banner. It's so perfect that I refuse to take it down.

Fresh flowers from my MIL's backyard. One day we will have hydrangeas in our yard and I will be so happy.

My hope for our home isn't that it's a perfectly decorate place that has to be spotless at all times. Rather, I want our home to be a place that is lived in and one our friends feel comfortable in. I love it being full of people! I want our home to be shared, open, and welcoming. 

Blog Breaks and Babies

Hi! 

Remember me?

It's been a while. Actually, it's been a whole month. I didn't mean to take such a long break, but between work picking up, stress with the house (more on that tomorrow), and simply not feeling inspired to write this blog got put on the back burner. Apologize for the absence, but I'm back now! 

My first friend, Cara, and her sweet husband, Frank, are expecting their first baby this August! This past weekend we celebrated mom-to-be and "Baby E" with an elephant themed baby shower in honor of Cara's favorite animal. 

It's been fun, albeit a bit odd, transitioning from having wedding showers to hosting a baby showers. How did I get old enough to have friends who are having babies?! Love it as long as I'm hosting and not having one... yet.

I'm a bit obsessed with these adorable invitation we used from FrancyShmancyNotes. So perfect!

When guests walked in the door they were greeted with this pretty pink table. "The Giving Tree" was one of my favorite childhood books, and we figured it would be a great guestbook.

In case you didn't know my sister is crazy talented. She sewed 6 adorable elephants that we used to decorate the chandelier. Seriously, could they be any cuter? 

We set up a "Wishes for Baby" station. I found these from StockberryStudio and loved how they matched the invitations. Everyone did a great job of filling them out!

Some of my favorite answers:

"I hope you learn to love UGA football" As if that's even a questions!

"I hope you aren't afraid of wolves" & "I hope you learn not to hit" Great advice from a 6 year old!

"I hope you love cheese dip" Let's be honest. This is key.

"I hope you become just like your momma" <tear>

We also set up a decorating station. We laid out iron on appliques and fabric pens. Everyone decorate either a onesie or a burp rag. Have you ever held up a newborn onesies?! So. Tiny.

I know I'm biased, but I think the one mom, Sis, and I made was the cutest ;)

And no good shower is complete without lots of food! Momma-to-be loves her some goldfish, so of course we couldn't forget those!

Is she not the most precious pregnant person ever?!

 Love you sweet friend and can't wait to meet baby girl in August! Oh, and please move back to GA, Baby doesn't like TX!

Quick Weekend Review

Friday:

I did something I've never done before: I went shopping... by myself! Yup, that's right. I've never gone shopping alone. I'm not a big shopper. Clothing stores kinda overwhelm me, so I tend to avoid them. Friday was different. My plan was to run into Old Navy get what I wanted, not try it on, and leave. However, there was such cute stuff I decided to try a few things on. Granted I spent the entire time texting pictures to mom and sis to make sure it all looked good, but I think it still counts. Honestly, it was actually kind of fun, and I feel like such a grown up for having done it {almost} all by myself!

Saturday:

We spent the day in Athens cheering on the Dawgs! I should mention James did not cheer for UGA; he just cheered for football. I was a little nervous after the first half, but they got their act together in the second and pulled out a nice win for Homecoming.

Football isn't so much mom's thing :)

Sunday:

My father-in-law's birthday is this week, so we celebrated Sunday afternoon. We went to one of our favorite Italian restaurants and ate our weight in food. So good... so full! Always love seeing my in-laws and my favorite SIL.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Wedding Wednesday: Reception

After a fun time getting ready and a beautiful ceremony we were so ready for a fun and beautiful reception! It didn't disappoint! Everything looked even better than we hoped for and we had a great time dancing with friends and family.

Our reception site was only a walk up a small hill from our ceremony site, and just as pretty. My 90 year old grandmother sewed all 12 of our linen table runners. She's pretty much the coolest person ever!

Family tree and flip flops for dancing!

The only bite of cake I got all night was what James fed me. I'm pretty sure it was vanilla cake with raspberry filling and almond icing. It was great when we tried it at our tasting. I only hope it was that good at the wedding!

The one thing we've heard consistently from guests is how incredible the food was. I would pay serious money to eat it again. It was that good!

Planning two weddings for the past year was difficult, but mom and dad handled everything so well. I could not be more thankful for everything they did for our wedding. It was the perfect night and we couldn't have done any of it without both of them!

First dances:

James and I danced to "Sea Breeze" by Tyron Wells; the same song he played the night he proposed. I was so uncomfortable dancing while everyone was watching, but he did a great job distracting me and making me laugh

 

My dad, sis, and James' best man, Taylor, did a great job with their speeches. They made us laugh and cry at the same time.

Random fact: the husband is freaky good at handstands. My first friend/bridesmaid Cara is a former gymnast. There was smack talk before the wedding as to who was better. What better time to test this out than at the wedding? 

James won form and Cara won length. It was probably my favorite part of the reception!

Off to our Mexico honeymoon!

 

 That's it for the wedding recaps! Thanks for sticking around as I relive the best day of our lives.
Next up, our wedding video!

Happy Wednesday!!

*All photos were taken by Amy Arrington Photography*

Ceremony and Then Some

We started with getting ready. Next up the ceremony, but first the details. I know all weddings are personal and ours was no different. We tried to add personal touches where ever we could and our family helped in making our wedding feel like us.

The cross will hang in our house one day. We decided against traditional programs and instead my sister painted the program on a big chalk board.

My uncle was our pastor. He did an incredible job making our ceremony Christ centered and personal to us. 

       My dad and I rode in on a horse and carriage. When I first heard the idea I thought it was a little corny, plus I'm allergic to horses! After it was all said and done I'm really glad everyone talked me into doing it. They rang a bell then there was silence and all you could hear was the carriage. It was pretty cool.

Random fact: I'm 95% sure that this picture was taken I while telling my dad "Oh my gosh! I can't believe there are people here! Everyone actually showed up!" I was really excited we had guests!

The doors.

The picture below captured my favorite moment of the day. 

Due to timing and not wanting to rehearse the ceremony we decided not to have a rehearsal the day before the wedding. Since we hadn't practiced how anything we weren't really sure the details of what was suppose to happen. After my dad walked me down the aisle James thought it was time for him to take me from my dad (it wasn't). There was an adorably awkward moment when James shook my hand and just stood there waiting. I'm sure he thought my dad was having second thoughts about giving me away. My our pastor/uncle had to pull him backing telling him it wasn't his turn yet. My uncle joked about how eager James was to marry me and commented on how it reflected his excitement for life. It was an genuine and sweet moment. Although not having a rehearsal made me incredibly nervous it ended up being one of my favorite parts!

The picture on the right is my cousin reading the Bible verse we've chosen to base our marriage off of (James 1:17). Aside from joking before hand that he was going to tell an embarrassing story about me he did a great job!

I think the picture on the right really captures the whole feel of the day: relaxed and fun.

We rode off in the carriage and did a lap around the farm. It was the perfect way to spend our first few minutes as husband and wife!

And just a few more of my favorites:

Happy Wednesday!

Take Me Back

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Charleston was beautiful and being there for just a weekend makes me want to go back for more! I was going to post about the wedding and all the beautiful happenings; however, I did an awful job taking pictures. I'll tell you I was busy being a good bridesmaid and I wanted to be present in the moments. In reality I was just lazy. Either way, the wedding was beautiful and I was so happy to be apart of it!

I did manage to get a few pictures of Charleston. Have I told you how much I love this city?

The fountain is pink for the month of October. I was a ZTA; I love this a lot!

Once upon a time mom, dad, and I were suppose to do the Cooper River Bridge Run (a 10K run over the bridge behind us.) Mom ended up dropping out a week before due to being sick, but came to Charleston to cheer us on shop. It was just going to be me and dad until I dropped out the night before the race due to... Let's be honest, I didn't have a good excuse I was just lame. Dad has yet to let me live this down and that was like 5 years ago! It was only fitting we get a picture with the bridge.

This place always feels like coming home. 

A little gem for y'all to enjoy. Sums us up so well!

Here's to a good week!